The college angling community and larger fishing community are mourning the loss of young college angler, Travis Ely of Nashville, Indiana and his injured teammate Hunter Heckman, of West Lafayette, Indiana, who is a freshman at the University of Purdue after the duo were involved in a car accident Sunday night, Oct. 15, 2023. The members of the Purdue University Bass Fishing team were driving home from the Association of College Anglers Collegiate Bass Fishing Series event on Lake Dardanelle in Russellville, Arkansas when the accident occurred.
It’s always tough when someone passes so sudden and unexpected, but this one was really tearing up the college angling community on Monday as the tournament fishing crowd in college is like a giant brotherhood, and any loss of a young person just getting started on their own personal journey in life is tragic.
Travis Ely and Hunter Heckman competed in the Collegiate Bass Fishing Series Saturday and Sunday and ended up finishing a very respectable 35th-place finish out of 248 boats at the Aftco Open on Lake Dardanelle. Both anglers are loved by the Purdue University community, their bass fishing teammates and the greater college angling community.
No word has been passed along on memorial services or other information related to flowers or donations. If we get that information we will add it to the post.
Our hearts at Wired2fish are broken for the loss and injuries of these young anglers and our thoughts and prayers go out to their families, their friends and the angling community that knew them.
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